What did we do before Tupperware?

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Women probably never spoke to each other, never entertained, never baked or, more importanly, had more money than they knew what to do with. Just kidding. It paved the way for the direct selling system, gave stay at home Mums an income they wouldn’t have had available to them and women all over the world enjoyed meeting up for a good old Tupperware party.  I’ve loved Tupperware all my life. I went to a party last Sunday and it was heaps of fun. This demonstrator wasn’t so interested in telling us all what we could do with the lovely new range but rather what was on special and what was going to be available should you have a party.  But that’s not the point of this post.

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I’m in awe of so many pantries and kitchens and how well organised they are. I can remember having the full range of Tupperware Modular Mates for my pantry some years ago and my pantry was in pristine condition. I didn’t take them with me when I moved but I’ve gone back to old fashioned ways of making do with how I store things in my pantry without the unnecessary expense of Tupperware and other plastic products.

What we used to do

Years ago, meat used to be stored in a meat safe. My mother grew up with one of these. Meat was salted and cured in many different ways and not a bit was wasted.

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Flour was purchased in sacks made from cloth. This cloth was then used for so many things like tea towels, aprons and even children’s clothes. Nothing was wasted.

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Other food products were left in their box or container and just stored in the pantry as is. Now that’s a novel idea? (Sorry for the sarcasm but sometimes I think we were brainwashed into thinking that we needed all this Tupperware when for hundreds, even thousands, of years before us, food was stored perfectly well without all this plastic.

Old tins and boxes

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I can remember my grandmother having very little Tupperware. I think she had the salt and pepper shakers and that’s about it. Instead, she reused other containers to store her food in, for example, margarine and yoghurt containers for stewed fruit, metal tins for cakes and biscuits, glass jars for anything from buttons to rice, syrup cans for hair pins or in my grandfather’s garage. The list goes on.

My pantry is in a bit of a ‘state’ at the moment and needs a good tidy up, but you can see from the above few examples, you don’t need plastic ware to store goods in your pantry. The box they were purchased in works just fine. Pegs or bag sealers clamped on the plastic bag are okay. I’ve got shredded coconut in an old dog biscuit container and baking items in old glass jars.

But never let it be said that I always do everything right. I weakened for a couple of items from the party on Sunday and I did buy a Shake It Quick and some Snack Cups in pretty colours.